Reduce Waste and Earn Money for Your School with TerraCycle Fundraisers

As an eco-savvy parent, have the school fundraisers ever made you decide to attend a PTO meeting? Fundraisers are often known as cringe-worthy for their focus on junk food or wrapping paper made from virgin trees… not to mention the cheap incentive prizes that don’t even make it off the bus in one piece.

We’re talking to TerraCycle superstar, Lauren Taylor, about more eco-friendly options for your school fundraising.

TerraCycle collects about 50 different kinds of hard-to-recycle products and packaging through its Brigade programs. The waste you send us earns you points that can later be converted into money for schools and charities.

A: We turn it into new products through upcycling or recycling. An example of upcycling is turning drink pouches into a backpack, such as the ones seen at terracycleshop.com. When waste streams are recycled, we use the plastic pellets to create an entirely new item, such as a picnic table.

Q: Can I collect waste for more than one Brigade?

A: Absolutely! You can sign up for as many Brigades as you want. All collection programs are listed on Terracycle.com,

Q: Who can collect?

A: Any individual, family, organization or school can join the Brigades. We have families, offices, churches, Girl and Boy Scout troops and, of course, many schools because they can collect a lot of items through students and parents. Talk to your child’s teacher about starting one in the classroom or even the lunchroom to encourage waste-free lunches.

Q: How do I sign up?

A: All you have to do is go to TerraCycle and choose a Brigade to join. Click the Join Now tab and sign up.

Q: How much does it cost?

A: It’s free! We even provide you with a pre-paid UPS label to attach to your box when you are ready to ship your waste to us. Not only is it free, but we reward you. In addition to the benefit of reducing what heads to your local landfill, most of the Brigades award two points for each piece of waste collected. You can use those points to buy a charity gift with one of our partner charities or can convert your points to cash that can be donated to any local school or charity of your choice.

So far, more than 30 million people in the U.S. have kept almost 2.5 billion units of waste out of the landfills and raised $4.3 million dollars for charity. Sign up and start collecting!